


chaldean visionary flames

by airlieofjune (kafziel)



Series: chaldea files [2]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Angst, End of the World, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 10:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20526662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kafziel/pseuds/airlieofjune
Summary: Golden glowing eyes stared into her soul, transfixing her into the spot where she stood. Her limbs were paralysed with fear as she watched the creature scrape at her apartment’s windows. It snarled angrily and its claws glinted in the moonlight, struggling for purchase on the concrete walls. Enraged, it cracked the glass pane with all its force looking for an entrance and most certainly Nero’s blood.Nero and Ishtar fight monsters, save humanity and fall in love. In that order.





	chaldean visionary flames

_absinthe makes the heart grow fonder_

Nero Claudius felt the heat as she walked to her lecture hall for the next lesson – she wasn’t sure how she ended up signing up for science in any form, but here she was. It probably had something to do with her longtime friend, Paracelsus. He’d always been passive aggressive, but it was made even worse when he realised he was being manipulated by his girlfriend, Manaka. It had done a number on his mental health, and he was always muttering about ‘betrayal’.

Therefore, Nero, as the self-proclaimed Emperor of Good Friends, did some form of science (marine biology? Geology? Biochemistry? She couldn’t remember) with him to cheer him up with her presence in class.

Strangely, she enjoyed it – combining biology with chemistry sounded weird, as it was real living things with chemicals, but it was interesting.

Not that she’d tell him. He’d gloat for hours on end.

Walking into her usual chair, she slumped when she saw its occupant – did they not KNOW this was the self-proclaimed Emperor of Good Grades’ spot? Angrily, she rapped the desk in front of the obstruction (Nero refused to acknowledge this person as, well, a _person_) and huffed loudly.

‘Excuse me, did you know this is my usual seat? If not, I can grant you leniency, umu…’

The obstruction turned their head, sending waves of gorgeous black hair cascading in an effortless spiral around her. They batted lovely crimson eyes at her.

Then the illusion of pure naivete shattered.

‘What does a chair matter to you?’ demanded the girl rather rudely.

Nero choked at the blatant disrespect – until she saw Paracelsus’ hand waving at her from across the class. Wisely, he had taken a spot away from the (pretty-looking) fiend and left her a seat so she could surreptitiously look at his notes.

Sending one angry (regal) glare back at the girl, Nero sauntered over to Paracelsus. Moments later, Professor Avicebron made his presence known by breathing in his usual Darth Vader-like manner and clanking metallically into the hall. Students speculated he was more metal and fabric than man, and Nero wasn’t sure if she should believe the rumors.

And so, the class begun.

~

Nero couldn’t help but to sneak glances at the girl, so much so that her friend Hakuno reached over and asked, ‘Hey, Nero, why are you looking at Ishtar like she got a cup of gold instead of you?’

Nero hissed back, ‘Umu! Because that seat is my metaphorical cup of gold! A perfect view! A good enough distance to make sure Spartacus doesn’t spitball in my hair! Far away enough from Caesar so he forgets his ambition to take me on a date!’ to which, Hakuno simply muttered something along the lines of ‘All the boys simply love you.’

Quickly (and thankfully, she could feel Paracelsus’ judgemental eyes watching her read his perfect notes) the class ended, giving her time to confront this ‘Ishtar’ about her seating decisions. She caught up with her in the hallway and angrily hissed, ‘I needed that seat! Now, Caesar’s going to ask to date me at least thrice today!’

Ishtar’s hair did that gorgeous cascade thing, and she smiled strikingly. Nero’s mind was in overload. But all Ishtar retorted with was, ‘Oh, poor thing, having all the attention of all the boys! Some of us have to actually work hard to get dates, you know!’

And with that, the Ishtar-Nero Rivalry was cemented in time forever.

~

It was night, and the Uridimmu were getting restless – Ishtar could almost smell their magical output. Darting around an alleyway corner, she gripped her massive lapis lazuli gun and stuck to the shadows, listening for their strange calls and footsteps. As expected, she saw Enkidu with their chains, and Gilgamesh, ready to conjure artificial swords from pure mana.

‘Are we ready?’ she asked, using a non-threatening tone – the last time they had all been together, she’d shot and killed Enkidu, even for a moment. Begrudgingly, the two nodded.

‘Okay,’ she whispered, and they began their job of keeping Chaldea safe from demon spawn.

~

Waking up in a cold sweat, Nero rose from her bed with the sensation of feeling watched. Carefully, she drew back the curtains.

Golden glowing eyes stared into her soul, transfixing her into the spot where she stood. Her limbs were paralysed with fear as she watched the creature scrape at her apartment’s windows. It snarled angrily and its claws glinted in the moonlight, struggling for purchase on the concrete walls. Enraged, it cracked the glass pane with all its force looking for an entrance and most certainly Nero’s blood. (or flesh, or something she must possess, otherwise it would… go look for an easier place to break it?)

Panicked, Nero searched for the closest thing she could find to a weapon, grasping a kitchen knife firmly in her hands. As the glass smashed, both beast and human lunged. Nero heard the beast’s claws ripping her clothes as she struggled with the knife.

_There!_

Nero found a desperate opening, and she plunged it into the creature’s flesh as it writhed above her. She felt the wisp of air that came from the sharp claws swiping at her throat, and it was then that she realised with dread that it would take more than a shallow stab wound to take it down. The creature got up, despite the knife protruding from its side, snarling, blood gushing from its side. Its golden eyes were fixated on her as it lunged, and she hit the floor once more… Her hands scrabbled for the knife, but all she ended up doing was slicing open her palm. Bright pain bloomed along her hand. This was it. She was going to die here, today, in Chaldea, studying biochemistry and god knows what else…

‘An Gal Ta Kigal She!’

A bright blue burst of light lit up Nero’s sad excuse of a living room, slamming into the creature. It twitched once, then stilled.

Nero stiffened. Ishtar stood, eyes glowing amber, light emanating from her in blue and gold tendrils, her right hand tightly holding a blue gun inlaid with flecks of gold, her bottom lip curled in disgust at the beast corpse.

‘Ishtar…?’

Her head fell back against the plush carpet as her vision faded to black.

~

There was one more Uridimmu left in the area, and it was heading towards a large block of student accommodation. Ishtar struggled to keep up with its furious pace as she raced towards the towering building.

_Where was it?_

_Clink!_

There – she could hear the scrape of its claws against glass. Sighing with weariness, she gingerly pulled herself onto someone’s balcony. It smelled heavily of marijuana. Ishtar batted the scent away with her arms, before reaching up to the next floor.

Lifting her leg up, she got a good look at the Uridimmu – it was thrashing on the windowsill and there was no way she could shoot it at such a distance while not breaking the glass.

Never mind – the Uridimmu had broken that glass anyways.

The thought of innocents being injured by the beat made Ishtar’s heart pound with dread, and she began to pull herself up once more. Springing to the final floor, she broke the glass more so she could crawl inside. The beast was fighting a young blonde, from the looks of the shredded hair and clothes. There was a knife shallowly embedded in its side, slowly leaking blood onto the (unfortunately white) carpet. A small yelp of pain, and bright red blood spilled onto the floor. Grimacing, Ishtar readied her lapis lazuli gun.

The words formed in her mind before she could even think, unlocking her Noble Phantasm.

‘An Gal Ta Kigal She!’

Ishtar felt her mana flaring up. It struck the Uridimmu with the force of crashing into Venus with high velocity. Her lip curled in disgust – demon spawn like these children of Tiamat were universally detested. She looked over at the poor victim, her eyes widening in shock.

It was Nero, from Biochemistry, currently passed out and bleeding on her floor.

~

Nero mysteriously awoke to steady hands wrapping bandages and plastering her many cuts.

‘What are you do- ‘She was cut off by a familiar face –

_Ishtar, with a burning blue gun, bright amber eyes, lips curled in disgust._

‘You might as well be grateful, I just saved your life back there,’ Ishtar scoffed.

‘Thank you, Ishtar, for saving my life,’ Nero grumbled. She couldn’t believe the sheer audacity and lack of humility that Ishtar possessed, although the last part was a _bit _hypocritical as Nero wasn’t exactly, well, humble.

The sound of a harsh ringtone interrupted Nero’s ruminating, punctuating Nero’s pounding head with short sharp bursts of high-pitched notes. Ishtar pulled a face.

‘Ew, Gilgamesh.’ Lifting the phone to her ear, her voice took on a calmer albeit faker tone.

‘What’s wrong, Gil?’ she asked. It was so fake, Nero could almost smell the plastic. Or maybe she was just experiencing olfactory hallucinations.

‘You’re taking forever.’ A terse, male voice filled Nero’s room, filling it with thick, palpable tension.

‘Hurry up, kill the last one, and let’s go.’

_The last what? The last witness to that?_

Imperceptibly, Nero shrank back as Ishtar sighed.

‘Look, Gil, I’m patching up someone who had the misfortune of being the Uridimmu’s target.’

_What was an Uridimmu?_

‘Why don’t you just leave the mongrel and be done with it?’

‘I’m not a mongrel! U-Umu!’ Nero choked.

Ishtar glared for a second, then softened. ‘I would have felt guilty if I was the reason they didn’t make it to class the next day. I’m in their biochemistry class, Gil.’

There was a distinctive harrumph. ‘Well, go on, but make sure to come back.’

~

The next day after class (thankfully without any seating altercations) Nero questioned Ishtar on what she was doing last night.

‘It’s a long story, but here goes,’ she said.

‘There once was a goddess named Tiamat, and she represented the salt water. She married Abzu, the god of fresh water, and gave birth to eleven monstrous deities; Basmu, Usumgallu, Musmahhu, Mushussu, Lahmu, Ugallu, Uridimmu, Kulullu, Kusarikku, Girtablullu and Umu dabrutu. She was slain to create the heavens and the earth by another god, which we’re not going over.’ Ishtar paused to take a deep breath.

‘Over many, many thousands of years, the monstrous deities have somehow multiplied, and now actively threaten Chaldeans’ lives daily.’ Ishtar turned her crimson eyes to Nero’s.

‘What I am about to tell you is a story entwined with Chaldea’s past.’

Nero nodded seriously. She always enjoyed history.

‘A while ago, there was a young girl with fiery bright hair going by the name of Gudako. She commandeered several ancient historical figures using a great magecraft combined with modern technology called Fate.’

‘Humanity’s past, present and future were threatened by the arrival of a Beast, Goetia. He placed several potent wish-granting cups known as Holy Grails within history, and it was Gudako’s job to remove these ‘singularities’. And so, she did, and she fought Goetia bravely.’

‘The Fate system imploded after the battle, sending hundreds of heroic spirits through the present day. I am a Heroic Spirit, and so is my team captain Gilgamesh, and so is my teammate Enkidu. There are hundreds of us, and you could be one too.’

‘These demonic beasts threaten Chaldea, and us, as Heroic Spirits, are handpicked to vanquish these creatures before they become a threat. There is a young girl who goes by the name of Shielder, and it is her that determines who can become one of us. They call us…’

‘…The Chaldean Visionary Flames.’

~

When Nero awoke the next day, the apartment was immediately filled with the sound of her dysfunctional screeching doorbell. She rose and went to the door. ‘Yes?’

‘Hello, Nero Claudius. My name is Mash Kyrielight, and I was wondering if you’ve heard of the Chaldean Visionary Flames, and if you’d like to join our ranks.’


End file.
